TheBreadsmasher

Sunday, February 11, 2018

LAIKA has on display several props, puppets, costumes, and set pieces at the Portland Art Museum. The exhibit will go till May 20th, 2018, so you still have plenty of time to get to Portland OR to see it.

What to expect: The museum has dedicated two major rooms to house the various items created by the artists at LAIKA. As you walk into the Museum you will be able to get up close and personal (no touching) to the Other Mother's Pink Palace 1/6th scale house. Just beyond that is the skeleton warrior from Kubo and the Two strings that towers over you. A puppet of Beetle, Monkey and Kubo are also found in this room.

There is a huge wall full of replacement faces from each film that show the how many different faces it takes for one full second of film.

In the second and main room you will find the puppets of Kubo's mother, one of the Sisters, Agatha Pentergast, the Other Mother in her final form, Kubo, Norman, Eggs, and Coraline. There are full sets of the Babcock home & school hallway, Kubo's fathers home, the Hall of Lord Portley-Hind dance scene (also full of puppets), Snatcher chasing Eggs, Fish and Shoe, and the Other Father's Garden as a main centerpiece. Several little props and costumes (too many to county) littler the walls. Three Little Me dolls, the sewing machine of the Other Mother, full Moombeast puppet, the one eye'd sea creature from Kubo, armatures, pre-production art, and more. I was finally able to go this weekend, and would love to go back with a high definition camera to take millions of photos!

There is a gift shop off to the side where you can get tons of LAIKA merchandise.

The 7" Coraline bendy doll with raincoat has been re-released and currently at a great affordable price. This doll's box is marked with the 2017 year, so make sure you double check that before purchasing a new doll being passed of an an original 2009.

A second Coraline Doll in her pajama's was also re-released in this limited edition (3000) box set exclusive to San Diego Comic Con that originally retailed for $45. Your best search now is find one on eBay.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

The only screen shot we get of the bottom side of the seats is during the opening credits as Wallace and Gromit are lifted into the Van from underground.

I trimmed off the 'feet' from the original kit. These seat frames are inaccurate to the show and even an original Austin A35. They also made the chairs sit too low for my liking. In reviewing the film, the top of the back rest sits just under the back walls window. Another missing detail is the ribbing stitched around the seat and the back support.

I designed in AutoCAD the bottom of the seats as I saw it in the screen shot above, and gave them some extra height. I uploaded the .stl to shapeways.com and had them 3D printed.

Once the parts arrived, I glued them to the bottom. I had to also sand down the tabs on the frame where the original seat supports were supposed to line up. I like how the turned out.

Monday, January 29, 2018

For anyone wanting to make a more movie accurate Anti-Pesto van, this first thing to do is throw away the decal sheet and make your own. I am pretty sure all the decals are wrong, either in size, color, font, or style. Below are some comparisons between the Kits provided decals, and the actual Movie Van.

Kit Decal (incorrect font, spacing, and size)

Actual Prop

Kit Decal

Actual Prop (not even close)

Kit Decal

Actual Prop (no border)

Kit Decal (Wrong Color)

Actual Prop

Kit Decal (need to trim out white center)

Actual Prop

Kit Decal

This license plate actually comes from the Full Size Replica, not the movie prop

I picked up two Airfix Anti-Pesto Vans in the hopes to making The Van from Top Bun as well. Studying the Top Bun van it is clear that it is the exact same van (least Aardman used the same molds), as all the same dents, scratches, rust, etc. are in all the same places. First thing I too notice to was the image of the Van on the box appears to be the original prop (not the kit you get in the box).

The Van itself is an Austin A35 and appears to be 1:12 scale (although never stated). There are a lot of inaccuracies in the kit when compared to the Movie Prop. I do believe the kit makers studied a real Austin A35 and not the prop.

I am going to try to make my van's closer in appearance to the van's seen on screen vs the model kit out of the box.

All the rust spots cast into the plastic is going to have to be filled in. Windshield wipers & gas cap trim will need to be sanded off for starters.

I added My Life as a Zucchini to my Netflix and watched it last night. It was a good film. The puppets and sets are simple and makes it really feel like a kids world. The film itself, is a bit more too mature for younger audiences. My first impressions was this was a kids movie. It's not.
I am now surprised thinking back to when I saw it in the Family/kids Section at Target. I don't want to give the wrong impression, it's fairly tame, but there are some real adult topics and conversations that are not appropriate for younger views.
For instance, topics of sex, murder suicide, pedophilia, child neglect, abuse, etc. All that to say, I don't think it's for kids. Defiantly a movie I would recommend a parent watch first and then make a decision if they think it's OK for their kid to watch.
However, the movie was very moving and the story was fun and interesting to watch. I was involved in Zucchini's life and cared about the characters. It felt like real kids conversations and how they talk and interact. The animation was well done. It does make me curious about reading the original book Autobiographie d'une Courgette.